When the Nightmare Ends
by AquaDimaondDust
Summary: Ethan Winters has finally caught up to Eveline after battling his way through the salt mines and arrived within the guesthouse where he first searched for Mia. The conclusion to this nightmare, commences. (Based on the 'bad' ending where player chooses Zoe instead of Mia, at the end. One shot story. COMPLETE story.)


(This fanfic is based on Resident Evil 7 Biohazard when you choose to give Zoe the serum instead of Mia.)

Ethan was at his wits end, at this point! He had been through so fucking much, so fucking much.  
First, he thought his wife, Mia, had died in the hurricane that had hit, and he hadn't heard back from her... And then he got a lead on her having been alive and traveled all the way to Louisiana to go find her, completely oblivious to the horrors that awaited him upon his arrival. From there, he bravely set foot into the eerie old guesthouse that looked like it hadn't been touched in years, despite the better judgment of his mind, which screamed at him to turn around and go back, to not enter the haunting looking house.

He soon found himself being held captive within the main house of the Baker family.

Ethan was subjected to horrors beyond his wildest imagination, the every-man soon unveiling that the Baker family wasn't just a normal family after all, nor were they the happy bunch that the pictures he had seen in the guesthouse made them out to be. No, they were deranged, unstable horrors, who feasted on human flesh and other human parts, and, in turn, fed this disgusting food to their guests (which he, himself, was saved from having to eat when a deputy called the telephone).

One by one, Ethan squared off against the unnatural family, and their little horror bunch, the black creatures with jaws of razor-sharp daggers, the Molded. And along the way, he discovered the full story behind the Bakers, the nightmarish creatures called the Molded who would spring from the source of black mold around the house and other Baker property locations, and even...The one responsible for it all.

Who would have guessed, however, that the one person responsible for Ethan's unfortunate events, was the last person he expected? Such an innocent, seemingly harmless individual, always there, but somehow always mysteriously vanishing, oft times nowhere to be seen within the Baker estate?

After he had been freed from the mold that threatened to consume him after the motorboat crash in the bayou that he and Zoe Baker, daughter of Jack and Marguerite Baker whom Ethan had killed prior, escaped from the boathouse with the serum, anger consumed Ethan Winters when he watched helplessly as his wife Mia was once again taken full control by Eveline, the one responsible for his afflictions, and forced to ruthlessly try to murder him.

'Kill him, kill him! Kill him, Mommy!' The sadistic little child egged Mia on, while she charged at Ethan, armed with her weapon, stabbing at him ruthlessly.

Ethan was left with no alternative, as his wife's free-will had been robbed of her, the black mold having fully manifested within her, and Eveline, having taken all control of her. Ethan picked up the lone crow-bar on the floor and bashed Mia with it again, again, and again, and finally impaled her with it, killing her. He mourned her death and lamented on having to kill her...But, Ethan swore to put an end to that 'little bitch', for what she did to Mia.

Ethan tracked her down; there wasn't a damned thing in the world that could stand in his way.  
He would have even taken down Satan himself and his legion of demons if they were stupid enough to show themselves to him.  
Not even the Molded, who had grown in greater qualities, could stop him; he blew them all away even as Eveline created them in droves from the black mold in the salt mines he tracked her into. And Ethan destroyed even her strongest moldeds...Until at last, he had cornered the wicked little child, and discovered her secret, that, the entire time, she had been among him while he was at the Baker's house.

"Get away from me!" She screamed, fearfully.

"Stop stop STOP!"

Eveline was cornered now, she had nowhere to run, even if that didn't mean she was completely helpless.  
But Ethan had her where he wanted her now, and he could finally use the serum on her, kill her, and put this nightmare to a permanent end. There would be no more Eveline, there would be no one to control the Molded, there would be no one to create any more black mold, and, Ethan, who had been infected by Eveline and the mold, could cure himself before he would turn completely, just as all the others had.

But as Ethan stood there, he gazed into those depthless, hatred-filled eyes, and he saw the deep harbored sadness within them: Eveline, wicked as she was, as unjustified as her actions were, was crippled by the pain of being trapped and used as a guinea pig by the Connection, and Mia Winters herself, who, in the end, had basically betrayed the girl after promising her that they would be a family together.

This little girl...This unfortunate, misused child, who had spent a good majority of her time kept in a lab and experimented on against her will, she had called him 'Daddy', before. She wanted him to be part of her family, to be her daddy, just as she wanted Mia to be her mommy.

Ethan stood before her, having braved past her psychic blasts and psychic winds that she used to push him away with, out of fear of the injection he was going to use on her.

'Why does everyone hate me?' The child lamented, tears welling up in her dark and somewhat ominous eyes as she gazed upon the thirty-three-year-old male.

Ethan had her, gripping her tightly by her little arm; the injection inches from touching her other arm.

He had his teeth meshing tightly together, grounded fiercely as his eyes stared at the girl responsible for everything, for turning the Bakers into will-less mutants, who was indirectly responsible for the death of the poor deputy who had came to investigate the Baker's mansion, who was responsible for the death of Zoe who he had chosen over Mia due to her unstable frame of mind (who Ethan still didn't fully understand at the time, the entire story of...Of her and Eveline) and so many other victims.

Ethan was practically shaking from the burning emotions he felt, the images and thoughts pouring into his mind like the onslaughts of Molded he had fought just to get to this point.

Eveline just looked at him; her little eyes still filled with anger and crushing sadness.

"All I wanted was a family," whispered Eveline as the injection slowly approached her small arm.

'All that girl wants is a family', he remembered Jack Baker telling him in that short moment he spent in what he could only assume was the afterlife when he was trapped within the mold of the tanker.

Ethan's eyebrows slowly started to slide away from his eyes; his tight expression loosening, becoming gradually replaced by a look of sympathy and regret and his insides feeling like they had just turned into a big weight.

Ethan slowly brought the injection away from her arm, breathing raggedly as his pumping adrenaline started to wan away.

All she wanted was a family; that's all she ever wanted.

The poor child probably never even knew what it was like to be truly loved, and, yet, here she was craving for that, unhealthily obsessing over it, and doing anything it took in order for her to achieve that family.  
It was genuinely heartbreaking.

She spent her entire life in a lab, an experiment who was taught nothing by those who created her except how to be a weapon, and how to hate, twisting her poor little mind.

"Eveline," Ethan said softly to her; the hostility in his voice having ceased completely.

Eveline, letting her guard down, even if only slightly, subsided her psychic winds that she had used several times to push him away. Her eyes, still clinging to that look of bitterness, with tears still falling down her eyelids, looked at him curiously.

"What?" She said in response to him.

"I know you want a family," Ethan answered. "But the way you've been going about it? This isn't the right way! You can't just force people to be your family, don't you understand that? If you force someone against their will to be something, they aren't truly your family; it's all fake because their heart isn't truly in it."

Eveline took a step back from him, her back soon hitting the wall, and her eyes growing darker as she clenched her teeth. "But I'm tired of being alone."

"You don't think I understand how you feel?" Ethan kept his distance, giving her that brief amount of space that she had put in-between them, not wanting to add any further tension.

Ethan laughed, but there was only dryness in his throat.

"I've been lonely this entire time too, Eveline; I had been trapped inside the Baker's estate, because of all the things that you had done. I've been scared, no, petrified, worrying when I would be face-to-face with the next horror, the next time I would have to shoot, the next time I'd have to run, the next time I would have to hide. But more than the sense of dread I've felt, I've been very lonely."

His words were met with silence from the girl, but Eveline looked at him, her dull eyes locked with his empty brown ones.

"And with Mia gone," Ethan swallowed, his voice falling all the more, "I'm more lonely than I've ever been in my entire life."

Eveline was retracting herself from the wall; taking slow, but cautious steps towards him. When they were mere inches apart, Eveline cast her eyes down towards the floor, only to wander her eyes back up to him again, her hostile expression having fully vanished after hearing this confession.

"I have two choices," Ethan remarked, "one, I can put an end to you and prevent you from ever doing something like this again, and, in the process, stop the progression of the mold that's growing inside me. Or two...," he slowly rose the gun in his hand up, holding it to the side of his head, eyes on her beautiful yet haunting, green ones. "I can pull the trigger, stop the progression of the mold before it overtakes me, and let you live."

Eveline, eyes having increased twice in size, dropped her mouth open.

"Daddy, no!" She unexpectedly blurted out with a strong crack in her voice.

Ethan nearly lost his balance when Eveline threw herself into him and wrapped her tiny arms around where she could reach. Her head hit him, her eyes closed tight, her body trembling.

"I understand, I understand! I know now what I did was wrong, I was just tired of being lonely and feeling like no one loved me! All I wanted was to have a family who loved me, but no one did, not even mommy loved me, she lied to me."

The gun fell from Ethan's hand and dropped onto the ground, spinning away a few inches.

Ethan looked at her, shocked. But then he closed his mouth and draped his arms around the child, sighing deeply.

"You want a family, I know. Eveline, I'll be your daddy."

The grip Eveline had on him increased and she squeezed him with all the might she could muster in her tiny little form. And she began to bawl as one would expect from such a heavy-laden child, shoving her face into him and squeezing her eyes shut, soaking his clothing.

"I'm so sorry, Evie," Ethan leaned his chin down on the top of her head, holding her against him. "I'm sorry for everything that you've had to go through. But it's all over now."

Ethan let her have her moment: God only knew how long the bioweapon had been holding all of those tears in.

He couldn't remember the last time he had seen so many tears fall.  
But, despite the long moment of time Eveline spent weeping, eventually, the tears did stop and she pulled her face from his shirt and looked up at him with eyes that were much kinder and friendlier than the ones that had been staring back at him up until this point.

By now, the full-effects of becoming infected were taking their toll on Ethan, and the mold was almost hitting its climax within his body: Ethan, was growing increasingly weak, his face paler than it had ever been before, his joints almost not wanting to move, and an incessant cough coming from his lips.  
Yes, Ethan was moments away from turning into one of 'them'.

Eveline reached up to touch him and her eyes stuck to his like glue.

Ethan felt her mysterious powers inside him, and slowly but surely, second by second, the mold was being reduced inside his body until finally the mold was gone completely, and his strength had fully returned to him.

Ethan hugged her, pulling her against him.

"Eveline," Ethan spoke to her warmly, running his hand through her flowing black locks, "let's leave here, let's go."

"Yes, Daddy."

Ethan grasped her hand with his as they turned to walk away from the corner they were in.

They left the guesthouse and entered outside.

When they reached outside, where the very-much welcomed bright blue sky greeted them, something that Ethan had missed greatly since almost the entire duration of this nightmarish adventure had an ever-dark sky, Ethan heard the sound of a powerful propeller from within the close distance.

When he looked up, Ethan saw two choppers that were stationary in the air, and each one had, in big bold white letters: 'Umbrella Corporation', followed by a logo of a blue and black and white umbrella on a black background plate.  
Two cables that soon fell towards him and Eveline almost touched the ground. This, proceeded by a person from head-to-toe in full combat gear, and another sliding down the other cable also in complete combat gear and then a third.

Two of the men carefully scoured the area, hands holding their guns, while the third walked towards Ethan and Eveline in a nonchalant walk before reaching for the helmet covering the face and revealing a rather handsome masculine, gruff face with piercing dark eyes, brown hair, and a scraggly looking short-cut beard and mustache with pronounced hairs.

"I'm Redfield," the man stated in a burly tone.

"I'm glad we found you."

Ethan gazed at him, his expression anything but flattered. Then the thirty-three-year-old dirty-blonde growled, albeit somewhat controlled.

"What the fuck took you guys so long?" Sighed Ethan.

"We ran into a bit of trouble on the way here," explained the scruffy-looking man who called himself Redfield. "We would have been here sooner if it weren't for those obstacles. I apologize on the behalf of all of Blue Umbrella."

Ethan shook his head, eyes briefly looking towards Eveline, who held his hand tighter while looking over towards Chris Redfield like she was looking at a ghost.

"I guess things can't be fucking helped," Ethan shrugged it off.

"That girl there," Chris took a good few steps towards them, reaching for his Samurai Edge gun, "she's a B.O.W. and highly dangerous! You may already know this considering everything you've gone through up until this point, but she's the source of the black mold that plagues the Baker's property, and she's the one who creates those hellish creatures called the molded."

Ethan felt a strong burn in the pit of his stomach.

Eveline tugged hard on Ethan's hand, shaking visibly before moving out of sight and hiding behind Ethan as a child would towards her father in a scary situation."Daddy, don't let him take me, please! They'll hurt me."

"Daddy?" Chris Redfield squinted his eyes in disbelief. But then he shook it off, his grip tightening on his gun as he kept it perfectly aimed.

"Redfield, was it? Listen," Ethan put out one arm as if trying to defend the terrified Eveline. "I know she's a B.O.W. and, god, I know all the horrible things that she's done, I've seen what she can do first-hand since the moment I've ended up in this fucking place! But she didn't know what she was doing was wrong, she was just driven by the instinct of wanting a family, even if it meant achieving them by means that are unethical."

Chris kept his weapon at the red, his brows pressing tight against his eyes, his face slightly strained.

"Ethan, listen," his voice became deeper in pitch, "Eveline is a high-level threat. You already admitted you are fully aware of what she's capable of, and Blue Umbrella is also aware of her powers and crimes. You can't expect something like this to just be allowed to slide, it's a serious risk to humanity."

Ethan clenched his jaw; the surge in his stomach growing.

In a mere instant, Ethan reached to his side and grabbed the M19, cocked it and held it directly in front of Chris.

"And I'm telling you that this girl has been through as much hell as I have! She's learned that what she did was wrong, and I can tell she has no intention of ever doing the things she did before, again. She even cured me of the black mold that was growing inside me that would have turned me into one of those black freaks."

"I'm going to have to ask you to lower your weapon, Winters."

Ethan groaned. "Redfield, please!"

A long pause followed after Ethan's pleading with him, and neither of the two lowered their weapons, just keeping them pointed at one another, in case the other opened fire.

Chris soon released a disgruntled sigh and reluctantly lowered his firearm.

"You realize that you're putting me in a very awkward position? I'm going to have a hard time explaining this one back to headquarters, and I'm pretty damn sure I'm going to be given some hell for letting that little monster over there off the hook. But," Chris tightened his brow, "if you keep her under control...Then Blue Umbrella won't pursue her. But mark my words, Winters, if Eveline ever returns back to her old tricks, I'll take it upon myself personally to track her down and drill a few RIMRODS into her skull."

"Redfield, thank you."

Chris shook his head in dismissal towards the gratitude and then walked away, returning back to the other members and explaining the surprising turn of events.

Ethan and Eveline were taken onto the chopper with Chris, and the chopper took flight, leaving Dulvey Louisiana behind them.

Ethan prayed that he would never see, nor hear, of black mold or the molded again.  
He knew he wouldn't be able to forget the horrors that this adventure had presented to him, nor would he be able to forget any time soon the tragedies such as having to kill Mia, or watching Zoe calcify back on the motorboat they used to attempt to return to safety on.

But he had Eveline now, and she had him.  
He had accepted her plea for a family, and to him, she was the daughter that he and Mia never had.  
He had made up his mind that he would make up for where others had failed her before, even make up for all the pain that Mia had indirectly caused the poor girl.

At last, Eveline would have a true family, one that was genuine, and not something that she forced using her frightening power.


End file.
